Half-hat

I appreciate all your comments about the shawl. One day soon when I’m done with this thing (one way or another) I’ll tell you out loud what I’ve been thinking all along. For now, you are my voices, and you often say what I’m feeling.

I have adjusted for the mistake in the pattern, and I have completed 18 rows of the border out of 47. I’ll take a picture when I’m up to row #23 because right now it doesn’t look like much. But I can already tell that this Spider Web pattern is freaking delicious. Gorgeous! Murder on my hands, though. Having to p2togTBL yarnovers and other funky stitches is mind-blowing, and I think it takes me an hour to do one row. I’m convinced that it’s because I’m using the Metal Dowel brand of needles. Anyway, that’s later…

For now, there is some hat progress to report!

Ori’s hat!

A wise woman once said, “A knitter should know her limitations. For you, it’s crochet.”

It’s true – the crochet hook and I just don’t get along. Our relationship is perhaps a bit better than what I have going with the sewing machine, but that’s not saying much.

Nonetheless, I braved the weird-looking knitting needle, and managed to use Emily Ocker’s circular cast-on to start Ori’s hat. Happy as a clam, I knit a good 15 rounds before deciding it was time to pull the hole shut.

I pulled and pulled with all my might, and nothing happened! Two options – one is supposed to pull the hole shut before starting (and this definitely worked for me when I started again for the second time) or I trapped the yarn end in some weird way as I knit.

I have to admit that I’m having some reservations about the size I chose to do. DB Baby Cash, size 4 needles… I’m thinking I want to end up with at least 120 stitches. But this size works up to only 110. I knew the 120 stitch goal before I cast on, so what was I thinking choosing this size? I must have been in a shawl-induced delirium.

Also, the top of the hat has this weird cone shape – do you see it? The reason for this is clear – the increases aren’t frequent enough. Two solutions – either have more flower petals and/or increase every row instead of every other row at the crown of the hat. If I end up frogging this cutie, I’ll be sure to give those solutions a try.

There has been even more progress on my own Sarit’s hat, but I think I’ll leave that for another post.

The hat top looks alot like a spiral toe or star toe from Nancy Bush’s Vintage Sock book, and at the very end of the toe, one decreases every row to get a sharp curve for a rounded toe. So, I’d say one should increase every row of the crown to get the sharp curve of a sphere.

Hi: Since last week was apparently de-lurking week, I’m ‘coming out’ to all the blogs that I enjoy so much. Thanks for your great blog and I’m grateful that you are such a thorough and diligent knitter. (That shawl pattern–my GAWD!) I’m married to a scientist and I totally believe that if he were a knitter, he would be exactly like you are! That’s a compliment, btw. :> Thanks again for the fun of reading your blog.

Hi! You don’t have to pull it shut right away. You just need to make sure you’re making the slip knot the right way. The “slidy pull” end should be the tail, not the part you’re going to be crocheting/knitting with. That way, you don’t have to obsess about getting the hook into this tiny little “hopefully it won’t look like a” hole, and once the piece is finished, you can pull the tail and it will slide shut.

Thank you for linking to that cast-on! I used it to start the blank pinwheel baby blanket last week, which I’ve tried to start at least 5 times before unsucessfully. It worked like a charm. It’s a little clunky at first, and I haven’t quite transferred what I did to my crochet brain, but who cares? 🙂

Thank goodness you have those sweet hats to take your mind off the evil shawl pattern. I think that once you complete the shawl and fix all the pattern goofs, you will have broken some ancient curse and we will finally be able to achieve world peace…or maybe all of your loose yarn ends will just weave themselves in…or maybe the media will just stop with the Frankenstein-ian celebrity names (Brangelina??)…or (fill in the blank).

The Shining Star I made was with merino and it’s super stretchy – I bet your 110 stitches will work just fine. And the pointy’ness will block/stretch out. Don’t stress – you’re a fast knitter – you’ll see. I’m sure you’ll love it – it looks so adorable “on”. 🙂

SSP tbl is to p2tog tbl as SSK is to k2tog tbl: slower, easier, slants the same way, and doesn’t twist the stitches, so you may want to substitute that one. I go on (and on and on and on) about decreases here.

Have you tried using the i-cord cast on for those circular starts? Very easy…

Add me to the list of those curious about what the hat would look like not scrunched onto a single needle. Can you pull it off the needles, or temporarily add another circular to get a better idea of its ultimate shape?

I’ve made 5 of these hats and yes all of them have this nub at the top. Not even my gigantic head was big enough to pull that nub flat. Next time I’ll definitely try more increases and see how that works.

all the completed versions of this hat that i’ve seen have been overly cone-y, which has seemed a little weird [kind of a turn-off]. i always figured once they were on the wearer’s head, the problem would kind of solve itself. if you do edit the pattern to delete the pointy tendencies, i might just have to finally cave and make one myself!

I despise cone shaped hats – they just make me look stupid. I think it has something to do with my pin head, but I’m just guessing. The pattern and the color are great. Maybe you should try the hat on and see how it looks before you frog??

I’m still thinking about that cast-on with my new crochet brain. I think that what I would try if I were doing something like it again would be to use a square knot (you know how I like square knots) and crochet x number of stitches into it, and then pick up the crochet stitches (both legs or one? I’d have to see, both might give a nicer look). I know from experience with my square-knot philosophy of knitting and crochet that you can very easily then pull the square knot into a nice tight bundle. I’m going to have to try it.

There is another way to do the p2togtbl. It always stumps me to write it out, but something like, purl one, put it back on the left needle, slip the next one in over the one you just put back, and slide them back to the right needle.

I love Sarit’s hat, and I’m going to make it for myself. I’m tired of my hat blowing off while I walk the kids to school and I have to hold my coat shut cause I carry the baby in a pouch inside my coat. I have some clear beads that are pearlescent. Don’t know anything about matching beads to the yarn. These haven’t really looked right with anything, but maybe with some plain black they’ll just be a little sparkle in the sunlight.

I just finished a shining star hat. I’m not very happy with it at all. It is very pointy and maybe blocking it would help but I think I’m going to rip it out and start over. Can’t wait for your hat pattern!